I think I can wholeheartedly say that Champions has come a long way since release, however that isn't as good as you'd think. Champions was released far too early (which seems to be a thing Cryptic just loves to do), with many bugs, content gaps, and no end-game. I'm going to focus on each of these points separately below.
BUGS
I have to say, there are still a lot of bugs in this game. Many of those from release are still there, and new ones arise each patch. New bugs with patches is common though, but it's the amount of time they take to get fixed. So many times would I have to restart missions, reactivate my travel powers, or log in and out to fix something.
CONTENT GAPS
This is an issue that in my eyes has been fixed. At launch, there were levels at which you just could not get any missions, and therefor had to grind. Since then they've released new missions throughout all the leveling zones, and I've found myself having plenty of missions each level, sometimes having to drop some because I had too many, The main problem is that many times you just won't know where to go if it's your first time leveling a character in Champions. The crime computer in your mission log actually tells you every person that has available missions and shows you where they are, but this is never really introduced to you.
END GAME
I've always been a very hardcore player, thus my favorite parts of most MMO's would be the end-game. I love to raid, get nice gear, and have that epic feeling of killing the huge boss. One of the biggest complaints with Champions was that there was nothing to do once you hit 40 other than role a new character. I'm sad to say that this is still true, even with all the content updates. I finished all the end game content 2 days after hitting 40, and no. That's not because I have too much time, I actually did most of the instances multiple times.
There are multiple reasons why I didn't think the end game stuff worked.
Rewards - I don't feel like I'm getting anything of use when running these instances. The items that drop have slightly better stats, and I can do all the current content with level 38 greens, so why would I even want better stats? A few bosses drop costume pieces, but it's so rare that it's not worth it. Not to mention you also have to roll against 4 other people, and you may not even ever use that costume piece.
Seriousness - These instances are a joke. The very first time I did Therakiels Temple one of our group members literally solo'd three bosses. Not using any fancy tricks or bugs or exploits, nope. Just regular powers. It's hard to take any of the content seriously while what you would need 25 people to kill in other games, can be done with 1 person here. The thing is, I don't think it's meant that way. They don't advertise these instances as solo'able.
PvP - Another joke. Again, the rewards are basically useless, and it's so imbalanced it's not even funny.
Costume pieces - One part of Champions that I thought I'd really like, a lot of unlockable costume pieces. There sure are a lot, too bad every single one of them takes a ridiculous amount of effort to get. The costume pieces you get from Accolades (the "achievement system") are just unimaginable. Every costume piece, every single one, requires you to kill 5000 mobs, yes you read that right. Three zeros. There are a few pieces that drop off mobs in a certain zone, but the drop rate on those are something like 1%. For a single costume piece.
CRYPTIC
I'm not a fan of Cryptic, though I'll save most of my words for when I talk about Star Trek Online. All I'll give you is this: You remember a paragraph ago when I said you had to kill 5000 mobs for a single costume piece? Well, Cryptic found a way to get your money for those already in-game items. Make you do an unimaginable amount of work for them, or just pay $5 is the C-Store. I think the choice is obvious. I'll have much more to say about Cryptic tomorrow.
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